(Unhappy) Hello from Georgia

[MachFront]

Hello to everyone.

I finally got a job I loved. A job doing private security, in both a patrol and stationary post aspect. It had everything. Great freedom and a great (and pretty darn big) area, a very large mall/plaza with over 70 businesses, and right here in town. It also helped that a co-worker there became my best friend, "lastfirstborn" who just introduced himself on here not too long ago.

After working for this company on this site for a year and five months I just lost my job today.
I have many questions regarding this and events having to do with it.
But first I'd like to ask where would be an appropriate place on the forums to ask such questions? Problems at work type questions, etc.

I've been meaning to join and say "Hello" and now, unfortunately it has to be like this.
I hope I can find another job in security very soon.
Sorry for a downer of a hello...but....Hello! :)\

-ERIC

[Lawson]

Welcome from Washington to SIW. We can probably help you right here with the problem, what were you canned for?

[HotelSecurity]

Welcome from Montreal. Sorry to hear about the job loss. But go ahead, ask away. If there is one thing we have here, it is plenty of answers/suggestions.

[MachFront]

Well, alrighty.
Ok.
Wow. It would take a novel to go over the things that are jus' plain wrong that are going on, especially that I knew/know of after a year and five months.
A quick few examples just to give you an idea:
*A Lt. that on several occasions took the site patrol truck for his own use in the middle of the night and all told, put over 250 miles on it.
-He was not fired for this, though the two big boss men knew all about it-

*The same Lt. has had control of the site phone when he was off duty and myself and the other officer that were on duty have no way of being contacted.
-This, as you would imagine, has led to a number of incidents of miscommunication with stores, employees and others, not the least of which is hearing from someone: "Where were you guys?"-

*The same Lt. giving his personal number to most stores, so they took to calling him, which does no good when the other officers are on duty. They (we) would be none the wiser if someone needed assistance.

*A Sgt. that officially works 2pm-10pm, but truthfully is there (the days he actually shows up) approx. 3pm or 4pm-8pm.
-This has come to the attention of the big boss and still, like the Lt., no action was taken.

Ok.
Now that I've bored you to tears with these tales of woe, let's move on.

According to my Seperation Notice I was fired for, and I quote:
"Sustained insubordination or unwillingness to comply with supervisory issued directions; Blatant disrespect toward supervisor; Disrespectful toward company owner's initiatives and policies."

Alright.
"Insubordination"
You only have my word, and perhaps "lastfirstborn"'s word, that I have NEVER....NEVER failed to comply with an order. Always did I do what I was told and how I was told to do it.
This then, is a colored version of how they view the world. It is a bald-faced lie.
And anyway, as with any of this, why was I not chewed out first? Why was I not written up? Why didn't someone say "watch your white a** or I'll fire it!" or something?
Anyway.

"Disrespect"
The first I heard of this was at an "evaluation" two weeks ago. I was asked if I had ANY problems with ANY co-worker or ANY supervisor. I was asked and told to "go right ahead and be completely honest"
Well, I went on to say my few lil complaints about the way the Lt. handled briefings and that they were slightly redundant and that we felt sometimes that he didn't give us enough credit and that he just plain didn't treat us like grown men.
I never said anything highly negative or all the truely terrible things he had done of late. In fact, in my statements and voice and mannerisms, I sort of downplayed all of my complaints, giving it a lot of leeway. Saying things such as "But I like him, don't get me wrong. But it is hard to communicate with him." and "...But I understand that's just the way he does things and it doesn't really upset anything..." -things like that.
I was told I was being extremely disrespectful to him and of him and by proxy of the big boss.
*sigh*

"Disrespect towards owner's initiatives"
This one I dunno.
I sent a couple of emails to the bossman, about a couple of concerns. Nothing big. No real problems. One was my opinion on bike patrol (in the negative). One was about uniforms (possible polos for summer, more comfortable pants- these were questions, mind you) and also about the fact that one tire on the patrol truck was so bald it was bound to blow apart any day, I had told the Lt. weeks ago.
All of this was written in the most....MOST humble and respectful way I knew how. I went out of my way.
So...somehow there I was disrespectful of his initiatives.

Ugh.

The one big thing is this.
I loved my job despite its pitfalls. I discovered on the Secretary of State's website (here in Georgia), that a company HAS to by LAW give their officers a minimum of certified training....by a state certified training instructor.
This NEVER happened. It continues to not happen.
Oh, sure I had the ol' "on-the-job" sort of training. I learned A LOT throughout all the time I was there and handled anything that weird place thew at me...but no "real" training".

Do I do anything about this? Not out of spite, but...for...I dunno...the good of mankind? -L- I don't know.
Are there some exceptions to some companies, so that they don't have to give their officers the otherwise state-mandated training? I've no idea about these things.
So I don't know if I'd be pis*ing in the wind if I filed a complaint with the Georgia Board of Private Detective and Security Agencies.

I'm sure I know what most of you may say. That the powers of the universe kicked me outta there for my own good.
I guess I can take peace in the fact that this is a fly-by-night company and so it'll drown in the own mess it creates.
Maybe it's heartless and mean to say so...but I hope they do.

Anyway.
What would you do?
Turn the other cheek and forget them, or...do...what?

[N. A. Corbier]

Good news: There are other companies. Good luck finding one that doesn't play those games.

Not so Good News: You need a lawyer if you want your job back.

Bad News: That's enough to deny unemployment.

[MachFront]

Well, I wouldn't want to work under them all over again, so that's ok.

But that does suck if I had decided on trying to play in the red tape machine of unemployment.
Crap.

[MachFront]

And insofar as "other companies"...

I live in a large and growing suberb south of Atlanta.
There are indeed many other companies, 85% of which are at least based in Atlanta.

There is one thing that I fear in this world. It's such an extreme and irrational fear that it truely does in fact hinder me. It isn't a legitimate phobia, but it's darn close.
Fear of highway and interstate travel.

I know, I know. At 32 I should get the *%#@ over it. But it only sufaced a few years back. But it's bad. I start almost hyperventilating and shaking and so on when I get on a major highway.
Yeah.
Not the best thing to have when you have to travel to a branch office to get a job.
Ugh.
:(

[HotelSecurity]

During your evaluation when they told you to be honest & express yourself, nothing would be held against you. Guess what, they lied. Unfortunately that's life. My advice. Move on. Yes you could hire a lawyer & maybe force them to take you back but if an employer wants you out (& if they are forced to take you back they really would) they will find a way.

Just a question. You seem like an honsest open person. You have written things in your post that if your Lt knew about I'm sure he would have tried his hardest to get rid of you. Is it possible you were too open with someone you trusted & that person sold you out?

[MachFront]

There's only three of us or so there at a time.
And the only two people I was completely open and honest with were two people I trust and were complaining of the same things about the same people.

Now, there were very rare occasions that I would express concern or disagreement about something to the Sgt., but never paint a picture of what I truely thought. I would really, really sugarcoat it. I mean really.
(if only I was as honest there as I am in the rest of my life, I'm sure they would have exploded from anger with me as a lot of people tend to do.....or cry.)

As far as getting my job back, that was never my intention. Even if I could, boy would that be uncomfortable. Screw that.
I was just wondering if I should be an honest person and go to someone official and let them know what this company is pulling (insofar as no actual training), or just let them stew in their own juices and leave it all alone...or what?

[N. A. Corbier]

You are bound, by law, to file a complaint of unregistered activity if you value your security license. (You are a party to the license violation, and possibly an unregistered guard.)

Complaint Procedure:
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/plb/detective/complaint.htm

Verify they even have a license:
https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/myverification/

[hrdickinson]

Hello to everyone.

I finally got a job I loved. A job doing private security, in both a patrol and stationary post aspect. It had everything. Great freedom and a great (and pretty darn big) area,
-ERIC
Eric,

Let me play devil's advocate here.... What made you feel you had "Great freedom"? Was it because you were not supervised every moment of your shift? You may have, indeed, been treated unfairly but try to take some positive lessons away with you and move on. We can all improve our attitudes and work ethic. At 32, you are still in the learning stage.

[MachFront]

You are bound, by law, to file a complaint of unregistered activity if you value your security license. (You are a party to the license violation, and possibly an unregistered guard.)

Complaint Procedure:
http://www.sos.state.ga.us/plb/detective/complaint.htm

Verify they even have a license:
https://secure.sos.state.ga.us/myverification/

If I value my licence? "My"?
Now, they indeed do have a licence. But I don't have one myself.
Do individual officers need a licence themselves in the state of GA?

I think I'm more confused now.

[MachFront]

Eric,

Let me play devil's advocate here.... What made you feel you had "Great freedom"? Was it because you were not supervised every moment of your shift? You may have, indeed, been treated unfairly but try to take some positive lessons away with you and move on. We can all improve our attitudes and work ethic. At 32, you are still in the learning stage.

Oh, I know all this, but thank you.

As far as what I meant by "great freedom" was mainly that the property is so large and we 'had the run of it'. We could post where we wanted, when we wanted and do a patrol when we wanted, where we wanted. So long as both were done throughout the shift at certain intervals, we could, you could say, do pretty much "what we wanted". Not literally of course, but within the parameters of the job.

[mh892]

If I value my licence? "My"?
Now, they indeed do have a licence. But I don't have one myself.
Do individual officers need a licence themselves in the state of GA?

I think I'm more confused now.

Hmmmmmm. Worked a year and five months in security at a mall and don't have or know if a license is needed????? :rolleyes: Is this total density or is there some chain jerking going on here?

[Lawson]

I was thinking maybe it was proprietary, but after re-read a few of the posts, that seems less and less of the case. Maybe they didnt issue a license, but I cant imagine getting away with that for 5 years.

[N. A. Corbier]

If I value my licence? "My"?
Now, they indeed do have a licence. But I don't have one myself.
Do individual officers need a licence themselves in the state of GA?

I think I'm more confused now.

I had to do some digging in the actual forms, Georgia's website sucks. If you are a private investigator or an armed security guard, you are required to be "registered" with the state. The registration seems to be some kind of professional license.

It looks like they have no mechanisms to bar individual guards from working, they can only go after the companies in Georgia. So, that's... really weird.

Yet another state where anyone, including a felon, can be a security guard.

So, no, you don't have to tell anyone. The way their website is setup, it makes it look like everyone is licensed, but then you read the application and only armed guards need a "registration paper," which includes their firearms permit.

So, you're good to go if you don't want to tell the state, or if you do. They can't punish anyone but the company, it seems. Weird.

[N. A. Corbier]

Hmmmmmm. Worked a year and five months in security at a mall and don't have or know if a license is needed????? :rolleyes: Is this total density or is there some chain jerking going on here?

Georgia simply has no damn rules about security. No wonder the guy is confused, reading the stupid website confused me till I read a PDF application for a "registration of employee."

[MachFront]

Alright. Let's clear up a few things.
I know a lot about a lot.
Forgive me for not being an expert on everything.

mh892: Tell me how I was supposed to know. How? I took the job and was under good faith that "surely they are doing everything the way they are supposed to right?!? It would be stupid to not. They would only be getting themselves in trouble right?"
The first thought you have when getting a job is not usually an automatic assumption that everything there is shady.
Besides, what does how long I worked at where I worked have anything to do with it?
This is supposed to be the owner's responsibility.
And we are unarmed. I've never worked in this field before. I know very little about it. Hell, I never would have thought in a million years that there would be as many web sites about security guards for god's sake, let alone a good forum.
Saying that this was dense of me is the very same as myself saying about well, really anyone at all that they are dense simply because they don't know what Act and Scene the quote in my sig is...and that the word "let" doesn't mean let. "let me" in this case means basically, 'anyone that holds me back'.
Sheesh. Didn't you all know that? What. Are you dense?
See?

Anyway.

I wish I would have known everything. It would have saved me a lot of grief.

BHR Lawson: 5 years? Who are you referring to? The company I worked for has only existed for as long as I worked there. 1 year and five months.
Or are ya talking about something else?

N.A. Corbier: Again, I don't know, but...
Surely a felon "can" become a security guard, but it's not supposed to be that way. What I mean is. I've lived here all my life and I have heard and seen a number of reports over time about what a big, bad deal it is when a security company is discovered doing something very wrong, such as hiring felons. So certainly the laws need improving, but also certainly it isn't "supposed" to be occuring.
*sigh* who knows. This is all making me so very tired in my spirit.

And I was talking about telling someone official about the fact that there isn't and never was training. It seems to me, from reading the laws, that it would be illegal if there wasn't any training.
I was wondering if anyone knew of any reason they could legally get away with not getting their officers trained.
I don't want to speak up only to find out they've gotten a loop-hole.

Damn.
Maybe I'll just move on and let the bad guys win, I guess.
Only the good guys lose, it seems. And these @^#$%@* just go on makin' money.
This. This is why people don't fight.

BTW, I hope I don't sound to confrontational towards anyone. I'm just angry and disenchanted.

[lastfirstborn]

I'm part of this same company Machfront was fired from. It really is fairly shady. Most of the companies in Ga seem to be, which I hate. Actually, it's a whole other problem of mine personally, to be the only good officer left on the site now. I need to get out now, and I'm actively searching, but until then I'll do what they pay me for without a word in the negative.

But that's not why I came to this thread. I just wanted to back up Machfront in what he was saying, in case there were any doubts. Though there really don't seem to be. Everything he said is 100% true, and frankly, I'm suprised they didn't can me while they were at it actually. Live and learn I guess.

When I was a part of Cognisa Inc two years ago, they also didn't inform us of a private liscense for the officer either. That threw me for a loop, but again, I see that's already resolved. Interesting nontheless to know. At least they actually trained us.

Personally, Machfront, I think you should report this Agency for all it's wrongdoings. What if they hire the wrong sort for this job, and give them a baton and handcuffs without training? I wouldn't want anyone I cared about shopping in a mall like that. Even though it's currently putting food on my table, I really think the agency in question needs to be inactive until it can get it's act fully together.

[N. A. Corbier]

I would too. :)

[Mr. Security]

Being fired unjustly hurts. Although it might be tempting to report this company, the best choice is to move on and cut your loses. You never know if reporting the company will come back to haunt you at your next security job. It's amazing how small the world can be when it comes to who knows whom.

When you "land" your next security position, don't be surprised to find similar wrongs being committed by your superiors. Don't let it affect you and avoid revealing your feelings regardless of how "free" someone tells you to be with your opinions or observations. Go to work, do your job and that's it. If someone tries to get you involved in "office politics" remain neutral and nonjudgmental.

[MachFront]

I think you've hit all the points squarely on the noggin.
That's good advice. Good points.